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2/25/14

Laundry Room Makeover! & Organization Tips...

Get comfy and settled-in. We're making over the laundry room.

Before we jump into it, I've got to tell you that lately I've gone a bit painting-crazy...
Actually, I'm still pretty much in the midst of the madness. I'm taking advantage of the nice weather and working on my 4th painting project in the past few weeks as we speak! I'm obsessed.

I'll share them all very soon, but this week I'm bringing you two posts about room makeovers using the same gorgeous paint color I've fallen in love with.

I felt it was time our laundry room got some love. I mean, it deserves it. It works hard.
It really felt nice not buying anything new for this makeover besides the paint. Well, and a sweet Valentine's Day gift from Brad, but we'll get into that in a moment.

Funny thing about laundry rooms... They can be kind of depressing. It's a room that serves one pretty boring function. It houses a chore that many of us would rather never do. So why not make it a little cute?
Not only that, but I, like many, feel better (and work better) in organized spaces.

Before I get ahead of myself, here's what the laundry room looked like before...

I mean, at least I put the laundry away...

Our laundry room isn't the largest. But I love it. Having a laundry room at all is pretty nice to be honest with you, so I would never complain about it by any means. But seriously, when we bought this house, I didn't really look twice at the laundry room. It was there. It was a separate room. I loved the built-in shelves. It was good enough for me. I'm totally not picky about them.

Speaking of, let's get random for a moment...
Some of these huge bedroom-sized laundry rooms I've seen in homes/Pinterest now-a-days completely freak me out. In my mind, as long as there is space for the washer and dryer, and an area to store a few things, I'm good. Why waste valuable square footage with a big laundry room? What the heck are they doing in there?? What are those large sinks for anyway (that I've never ever felt the need for)??? Why does one need a flat-screen and a couch next to the dryer????

I'm a get-in and get-outta-there type of gal when it comes to laundry.
But when I'm in there, I want it to at least look pretty, you know?

However, while the actual room itself is nice, our actual laundry situation is a bit different at this house than our last.

At our last house, our laundry room was upstairs, near the bedrooms and super handy. Here, it's on the main level of the house, sort of in a common hallway area where lots of things come together. The garage entrance, kitchen, and family room area all nearby. So while our last laundry room was hidden away at the end of a hall never to be seen by guests or unsuspecting eyes not ready for an eye full of our undies messy laundry room, this one is, in the words of Beyonce, alll upp inyourface.
Yes, I could close the door, but I don't wanna'. I want a cute laundry room to make me happy, ok?

Much better view now, huh?

The biggest change is the paint. I brightened up the room with Healing Aloe by Benjamin Moore. It's seriously one of the best colors I've used in a while! It's a gorgeous soft aqua that doesn't look too young or cartoon-y. Blues/greens like this can be tricky. It's sophisticated enough to use in any space. I can't wait to show you the other room I used this in on Thursday! ;)

For small spaces like a laundry room (or small bathroom), it's fun to go for an actual soft color. Since those rooms aren't heavily accessorized, it's fun to let a pretty color on the walls tie it all together rather than adding color with accessories, which let's be honest, a laundry room doesn't have room for too many of those.

Speaking of accessories, I only brought in one new thing...

...This pretty sunburst style mirror that Brad surprised me with on Valentine's Day.
What can I say, the man knows the way to my heart. I'm sunburst-mirror-obsessed, which many of my long-time readers are well-aware. ;)

This one is probably the prettiest one I own. It makes me so happy when I see it. "Happy" is always welcome when you're doing laundry.

I've had the fun little chandelier for years and years. I think we originally got it from Lowes. You may recognize it from the closet at our last house! When we moved in, my dad was over helping Brad hang a bunch of our fixtures and it was his idea to put this little cute chandelier in the laundry room. I think the pretty amber-colored glass beads show up much better against the new paint.

The "laundry" mat is one of my favorite things...

Years back, my mom found these at Lowes. It's really cushion-y and soft. To me, a comfy mat like this is so nice in front of a washer and dryer (which are always on super hard floors) because it really saves your feet over time from all the standing and folding.

The little "laundry" sign was a find from the Ballard Designs outlet years ago when we moved into our first house.

I mean, who doesn't need a definition of laundry staring them in the face while they wash and fold? It's actually pretty silly (but cute), and while I thought it was kind of obnoxious where I hung it originally in this laundry room (in the "before" pic), I like it much better where it is now, sort of to the side. I am so surprised that they still have them! (Here, although the full price is ridic). Now I'm definitely not condoning or suggesting that spending that much on a definition of "laundry" is the way to go, however, some of you may be curious and I'm sure you could find a similar one someplace else for a better price! Or maybe luck out on a discounted one if you're close to an outlet!

The little laundry basket on top of the washer was a great TJ Maxx find.

...It also helps to hide the suuuper attractive water hook-ups on the wall.

For the actual organizing, I used the same baskets, striped bins, and everything else that was in here before that we've used for years.
The striped ones were a great find from Kohl's years back, and the baskets are from Target, although I'm sure you can still find similar ones there.

The actual storage and organization space in this room is great. I love the rack/shelf to hang clothes from above the washer and dryer. The set-up was similar at our last house, which is why we didn't purchase the "stands" for the washer/dryer. It raises them by about a foot, which would totally make the drying rack above them useless. Plus, I like to fold clothes on top of the washer and dryer.

I also spruced up that little drying rack/shelf with some of our scrap wood from the bunk bed we removed in this post. If you have any of those little wiry shelves you'd like to hide/dress up a bit, cut a piece of wood the size of the top, and add a bit of trim to the edge. We cut the large shelf piece allowing about four inches to hang over the front so the hangers would still fit nicely underneath, just like always.

Makes it look a bit better I think.

As far as the organization goes, it's really simple. Nothing crazy or ground-breaking.
I just took similar items and grouped them into their own baskets.

Totally "cleans up" the shelves and keeps everything organized and together.
The three striped containers above the drying rack are each for light bulbs, extension cords, and dry cleaning.
As for the built-in corner shelves, I put all the cleaning stuff on the lowest shelf. Cleaning products go in the large basket, clean cleaning rags go in the small one. The next shelf up contains all the laundry stuff. The little basket holds little laundry/clothing products like lint rollers, bleach pens, dryer sheets (which I don't use that often), shoe cleaners/protectors, leather cleaners, etc. Detergent and fabric softener stays out because, well, it obviously needs to be handy. Same with a few bottles of stain removers.
The basket on the next shelf up is empty, which is awesome because it's always nice to have some extra room!
The top shelf contains a basket full of Waylon's stuff. He has a ton of toys in a basket in our family room (well, let's be honest, they're currently strewn all over the house), but this basket contains some of the extras: New tennis balls, old toys that aren't quite ready to be thrown out, etc. It's crazy how many toys he has! Sometimes it's nice to clear them out every now and then and keep out just the things he really plays with. Then we can bust out an old toy months later and he thinks it's brand new...haha.

The vacuum also fits nicely beneath the shelves. Beside it, on the floor, I have another basket full of vacuum attachments and attachments for our steamer, which is actually in another nearby closet. Sometimes the vacuum goes in the other closet, but I find it's just handier to keep it in the laundry room.

And finally, I keep an ironing board on the back of the laundry room door. I got the cute cover from Etsy a little over 2 years ago from this seller (not perked in any way to link that, just sharing the love). It's held up really well!

Well that's all for the laundry room! It's crazy how much nicer it has been to work in there! And like I said, I didn't really do anything crazy or purchase a ton of stuff. Just a fresh coat of paint and some rearranging and reorganizing made such a huge difference!

Oh, and if you're wondering about the actual washer and dryer themselves, ours are about five years old and are by Samsung. We've had no problems with them so far and have zero complaints. I really love them.

So I hope you guys enjoyed this little peek into my laundry room! So nice what a fresh coat of paint, some organization, and a few fun touches can do to an otherwise pretty "un-fun" space. Have you all painted anything lately? Anyone else in the midst of a painting frenzy like me??

FYI I have one of those large sinks in my laundry room and it's really useful. Especially to hand wash delicate clothing, fill up basins, etc. I also find it especially helpful when giving my little dog a bath :D

I seriously SERIOUSLY love your decor posts! I read every one of them. I love your sophisticated style with a touch of girliness (that isnt too overwhelming) Your house is seriously perfection! -ashtyn

Hey don't bash doing laundry, I love it, I think its fun haha, I feel productive. Great post - looks so cute in there. I too have that size of a laundry room, again on the main floor and on display for guests - not always the prettiest site so I tend to just close the door. I got interested when you mentioned 'dry cleaning stuff', do you literally mean you dry clean your clothing items at home or am I interpreting it wrong? :))

Not going to lie Tiffany, when you first mentioned that you wanted to start posting about home décor more on here, I thought... Oh great... BOOORINGGG!! But I have found myself coming back for every single post. I love everything you have done to your house so far. I am 22 and getting ready to move out of my parents house for the first time and I cannot thank you enough for the great ideas. I mean just that sunburst mirror opens up your laundry room so much! So much inspiration. Can't wait to see where else you used that paint!

Your laundry room makeover looks great. Love that paint! You make home organization look so simple and pretty. I also have a small laundry room that needs a makeover. How did you attach the piece of wood over the wire shelf so seamlessly? Also, curious as to why you don't use dryer sheets?